


and to the dust again i fell

by icarusandtheson



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Western, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:21:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22863169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icarusandtheson/pseuds/icarusandtheson
Summary: There's not much a man can do to make something of himself in a small town like this. Hamilton tries his luck with the sheriff -- looking for a little glory, nothing more than that.
Relationships: Alexander Hamilton & George Washington, Alexander Hamilton/George Washington
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27





	and to the dust again i fell

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to @that-this-will-do for challenging me to finally write a little something for the western au i've had rattling around for a while.

Alex is kicking dust on the front steps to the sheriff's office when the man himself finally shows. He’s light on his feet for such a big man, and Alex only looks up when his shadow falls over the steps. He casts a long one, which isn’t so much of a surprise. 

“Hamilton.”

Alex rises to his feet, less smooth and more scramble. “Sheriff.” 

Washington’s brows lift a little. Alex’s hands itch to dust himself off, but it wouldn’t do much by way of impression. It hasn’t rained for weeks -- everybody’s more dust than skin these days. Except for the sheriff himself, of course. Not a speck on him -- even his boots shine. 

Alex thinks, not for the first time, that he must’ve walked out of some tall tale on accident and decided he might as well stay, because there’s no way in hell a man like him sticks around a place like this otherwise. Alex would know -- he’s been sticking out wrong in every place he’s blown through for years. Like recognizes like, even if that’s where the resemblance ends. Might be that’s why Washington has a way of making him feel like he’s nothing more than his scuffed-up boots.

“Can I help you, son?”

“I heard you were riding out tomorrow morning.”

Washington tilts his head. “That’s right.” 

“I was wondering if you were looking for volunteers.” 

Washington doesn’t talk much, he’s learning, so he does his best not to be too rankled by the wordless skepticism that follows up his offer-that-wasn’t. Washington’s not lacking men, he’s got Laurens and Lafayette and Mulligan up at the bar -- good men, all of them, the kind you want to keep the peace. But Alex outshot them all once half-drunk on something blinding, and he’s got a mean streak that none of them do. If anybody understands the value of that, it’s going to be Washington. 

“The Schuylers have been good to me,” Alex says by way of explanation, which is true enough. If he knew what was good for him, he’d dig his hooks down well and deep into those good graces and ride them all the way to that pretty estate Eliza was telling him about. He never did know what was good for him, but maybe it’s time to start. Hunting down the bandits that robbed her daddy? Probably a good start. 

He should’ve thought of it sooner -- it’s a better excuse than what he came here prepared with. He can roll it out if Washington asks -- makes a nice story, maybe. Newcomer from nowhere falling for the prettiest girl in town. He’ll have to practice it first, though. Roll the words around in his head until they mean something.

Washington doesn’t say anything for a minute -- just weighs Alex down with the kind of look that would and undoubtedly has broken a guilty man clean in two. Small wonder this place is as quiet as it is. 

Alex never did learn how to swallow being looked down on, but then Washington looks down on most. He doesn’t seem to take much pleasure in it, which is something. 

After an age: “How good of a shot are you?”

Alex grins. It’s not much, but it’s a way in -- a place to dig. “Very good. I can prove it, if you’d like.” He thinks he’d like that. Line up a few empty bottles out back, watch Washington’s eyebrows crawl right up his forehead as Alex hit every one dead-center. He could manage it backwards too, but somehow he doesn’t think Washington would like any of the fancy shit. Suits Alex just fine. 

“Have you ever killed a man?”

The grin slides off easy as it came. “You trying to take me in for something, sheriff?” 

Washington arches a brow. “You told me there weren’t any warrants out on you.”

And wasn’t he smooth about it, sliding into the seat next to Alex at the bar that first day, easy as anything -- like Alex couldn’t read him from the start, like he didn’t hear the room go quiet and shift around him like a living thing wanting to get on its feet. Washington walks into a room and it’s his room. Washington looks a man in the eye and -- this. Whatever this is that he’s trying to pull. 

“There aren’t any.” Not that he’s aware of. 

“Then I’m not trying to do anything.” A beat. “Well?”

“I’m a good enough shot to get it done.”

“I don’t believe that’s the question I asked.”

“No sir, I don’t believe it was.” 

Washington’s eyes narrow -- not angry, exactly, though Alex can’t imagine he gets the runaround often, no-nonsense face like that. Alex can’t imagine anyone holds back much of anything from him at all, with a face like that. 

After a long moment of scrutiny, Washington nods towards the door. “Come inside, there’s no sense standing out in the sun.”

Alex straightens up a little more as he passes him by, gets ready to dig.

**Author's Note:**

> *thanks for reading! leave a kudos and comment if you liked it!  
> *find me on tumblr at [icarusandtheson](https://icarusandtheson.tumblr.com/)


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